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(No Model.) l 2 Sheets--Sheet G. H. P'ATULLO.

vFUEL FEEDER EUR BOILERAPPARATUS.

N. 364,851. 'Patented Juneflll, 1887.'

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. G. H. PATULLO.`

EUEL FEEDER EOE EOILEE AEEAEATUS. No. 364,851. Patented June 14, 1887.

VEN @IE/d E? i Lm/w%zyt UNITED Srftrns 'Armar raten.

GEORGE H. PATULLO, OF BAY CITY, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TOv MIOHAEL'GARLAND, OF SAME PLAGE.

FUEL-FEEDER FOR BOILER APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.`364,851, dated June 14, 1887.

Application filed January 24,1887. Serial No. 225,333. (No modul.)

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. PATULLO, of Bay City, in the county of Bay and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Fuel-Feeders for Boiler Apparatns; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this application.

My invention relates to apparatuses or contrivances for feeding fncl-such, for instance, as sawdustautomatically to the furnaces of steam-boilers; and it consists in certain novel devices and combinations of devices, which will be hereinafter more fully explained, and which will be more particularly pointed out and clearly defined in the claims of this specilication.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my invention relates to understand and practice the same, I will now proceed to more fully describe the several features of my improved fuel-feeder, referring by letters to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, and in which I have shown my invention carried out in those formsA of 'apparatns in which I have so fa-r successfully pracneed it.

In the drawings, Figure l is a front view or elevation of a nest or set of (three) steel boilers,

mounted or set in the usual approved man-A ner, and having combined therewith my improved fuel-feeding contrivance for automatically supplying the sawdust or other conveyable material to the fire-boxes thereof. Fig.` 2 is a partial side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but showing a modification of the fuel-feeder, in which the material is dischargedfhorizontally instead of vertically into the furnaces. n

In the several figures the same parts will be found designated by the same letters of refer.-

nce. e F F F are three ordinary steam-boilers,suit ably mounted or set, as shown, in themasonryor brick-work A, having the usual metallic front plates-and supporting frame-work B, in which are arranged the furnace-doors G, all 1n a well-known manner, and behind which are located the grate-bars D', on which the tire-bed rests, and beneath which bars are the ash-pits.

Immediately over the boilers F, a short dis` tance from their forward ends and (in the case shown) resting upon them, is a transverselyarranged cylindrical trunk or metallic conveyer-tube, E, running entirely across the nest of boilers and projecting slightly at either side of the setting A, as plainly seen by reference to Figelof the drawings. Vthin the conveyer-trunk E, which in the case shown 6c is composed ofathirteen-inch lap-welded tube,

is mounted, cent-.rally of the tube, a shaft, A2, which rotates in suitable journal-boxes, (in the case shown three in number,) one of which, a2, is located, preferably, in the head of the closed end of the tube E, and the other two of which, a3 a3, are joined in hangers that depend within the tube E, and are vertieally adjustable for the-purpose of lining up the shaft A2, to keep it in a line about V7o coincident with the axial line of the tube E. One ot' these depending bearing-boxes,

a3, is located, preferably, as shown, near the open end @c of the conveyer tube or trunk. The rotatory shaft'A2 carries ahelical blade or 7 5 eonveyer-screw, a, by means of which the contents of the tube E is screwed along or fed through said tube in the direction indicated by the arrow at Fig. l, and the necessary rol tatory motion is imparted to the conveyer- 8o shaft Az by means, preferably, of a chain-wheel,

a5, driven by a chain belt, as shown, that is banded to a similar wheel, b2, on the driveshaft c2, that carries the main driving-pulley cl2 of the apparatus. Directly over the receiv- 85 ing end of thetube E is located the discharge end of a conveyer trough or tube, D, which is connected with the said receiving end of the tube by means of a short vertical spout or vertical conduit, E*, through which any material 9o discharged from the conveyer-trough D will descend by gravity into the receiving end of the tube E. This last-mentioned tube has at intervals in one side of it a series of openings that are provided with sliding doors G, each composed of a metal plate curved (in a vertical direction).to correspond to the curvature of the said tube or cylinder E, and the whole series connected, preferably, to a rod, g, by which, through the medium of alever or pendroo ent handle, m', located, as shown, at` one side ofthe boilers, the attendant can open and close v (either wholly or partially) the said doors. Of course, if deemed preferable under certain circumstances, these doors G maybe provided with means for manipulating each one independently of the others. At cach one of these openings in tube E the latter` communicates with the upper part of a vertically-arranged feeder chutev or conduit, El, which extends downwardly toward and at its lower end opens into the upper portion of the fire'chamber of the furnace, and, as shown, the arrangement or location of the four devices E2 is such that two of them communicate with the furnace at either side ofthe set of boilers and two more are located one between each of the outside boilers and the central one, all as fully illustrated at Fig. l. It will be understood, of course, that in lieu of having these deseen ding feedtubes E arranged vertically and at the exact localities shown they may be placed obliquely (or even horizont-all y) and at didcrent positions from those shown, according to nuni ber and arrangement of the furnaces to be fueled, and according to all the circumstances surrounding the particular boiler structure to which it may be desired to apply my improved fuel-feeder.

\Vithin each of the vertical tubes EE is arranged. axially of said tube a shaft provided with a helical sheetmetal vane or blade running nearly or quite the whole length of the tube. and forming a screw-conveyor or feeding blade, as clearly seen at E3. Each of these screw or propeller shafts is mounted to turn freely in suitable bearingboxes at either end, and is provided at its upper projecting end with a bevel-pinion, f, that gears with a simi.r

lar wheel, h, keyed fast on the shaft r', so' that all the screw-feeders ES are driven simultane-y ously (bythe series ofsets of gears f h) from the roneshaft rlfdeemed expedient, however,r in

, the use of a series ofy ysuch feeders, ythey may be each separate] y 0r independently driven. The f shaftz' is mounted, in the case shown, in suitable'journal-boxes,,fouroffwhich are formed in yor secured to the metallicstands E5, projecting f yupwardly from rthe four feeder-tubes E2, ay fifth beingformed in or attached to the head of they closed end ofthe cylinder E, all as 'plainly showngat Fig. l of they drawings. Preferably,

ythisishaft i is yrotated yin they proper direction to make the screwieeders E:s feed down wardly,

f 'as` indicated 'byy the arrows at Fig. 1, by means of achain-wheel, Eonone end ofit, banded bya chain-belt, k, to a similar wheel :on the f same shaft that carries the main drive-pulley d2. On this. same rshaft is ymounted (within they yconveyor box or troughy D) one of the wheels J, over which passes (and by which is driven) a conveycr-chain, m, of ordinary construction, the flights of which convey the sawdust (or other material to be burned) from any provided source of supply, along within D, and effect its discharge into the descending chute or tube E.

In the particular detail construction of my improved fue1-fccder(`shownin the drawings) cach of the vertical feeder devices Ezis formed or provided with alatcral projection or shoulder-like device at e4 that resls upon a supporting bar ruiming crosswise of and on top of the boiler structure, and the said devices E and the main feed-cylinder E are secured together by curved tierods or holt-rods E5, which partially encircle the cylinder E and have their upper and lower ends made fast, as clearly shown, (sec Fig. 2,) to the top stands of E'l and the inner middle portions ol' the latter. But of course these details of the structure may be more or less varied without changing in substance the principle of construction or the mode of operation of my improved f ucl-feeder contrivanee.

ln the modification of my invention shown at Fig. 3 the main tube E instead of being located over the boilers is placed in front of them in a line some distance from but parallel with their front ends or heads and at a level about coincident with the topmost portions ofthe boilers; and in this ease the feeder devices E are arranged horizontallyy (instead of vertically, as in Figs. l and 2) and enter the fire-boxes in lines parallel with the axes of the cylindrical boilers F, all as clearly shown.

In the general operation of my improved contrivanee, the moving parts of the machinery being set in motion with the proper speed, the sawdust or other fuel material to be supplied to the furnace or furnaces will be conveyed along (in a welhknown mrmner)from` the source of supply and withinthe conveyor- ,trough D to the Chute E, within which it will will be discharged at the opposite end' of the tube E, as illustrated at Fig. 1; but rwhenever the sliding doors G are' either partially or wholly open, so'that there willr be open com-r munications between'the interior ofthe tube E andthe interiors of the depending or ver:

ticaly tubes El, then ythe' material ,being con-y vcyed along in the tubey E will be taken theref from in greatery or less quantities by cachy and yall of the feederdevices E, andy will be by the f latter fed downwardly within the tubes E and i discharged into the lire-boxes of the furnaces.

IOS

f when the doors or 'slides G are closed the fuel Ilo...

It will be observed f thatthc peripheral'edges f f of the helical feeder devices E are'a'rrangedy f to run close npy to the periphery of the screw conveyor c, (seefFig. 2,)fso that wheny the* slides G are open these feeder devices IE will easily receive and remove the material being fed along within E.

By opening the doors G more or less (by a manipulation of the rod g through the me dium of the hand-lever m) the attendant of the boilers or furnaces can at pleasure regulate the supply of fuel to the lires, and if circumstances require that the supply to the furnaces be cutoff whilethe supply apparatus continues running no harm will be done and not the slightest impediment offered to or unduc strain brought on any of the operative parts of the machinery, the only effect of closing the slides G while the machinery is running being the discharge 'of the fuel material at the open end m of the tube E onto the door, or into a receptacle for its reception, or into a conveyer for reconveyin g it to the original source of supply for reuse.

By having the supply-conveyer D separated from the receiving end of the screw-conveyer E and combining with said two devices the drop-tube or vertical conduit E", in the manner shown, an efficient break is made between the two devices D and E,-(in each of which particles or a layer of the sawdust or other inflammable material may remaim) and thus the dangerous liability of re running along from those parts of the feed which communicate with the lire-boxes to the vfuel-supply source is practicallyobviated. y

Of course many variations in the details of construction of my improved apparatus may be made without materially changing its novel mode of operation, and all such modifications may be made without departing from my invention. As the screw-conveyer a in tube E acts continuously and positively, and since the feeder devices E3 act positively to Aforce the material supplied to them down through and out of the lower ends of the tubes El, it fol-l lows that there can never be any clogging of the feed and that the fuel will be positively and regularly discharged into the lire-boxes in whatever quantities or at whatever rate may be predetermined by the adjustment of the supply-doors G, which are under the control ofthe engineer or fireman, and which, as before remarked, may be either allsct or adj usted simultaneously by the means shown or v may be separately manipulated.

1. In combination with one or more boilers and the furnaces or fire-boxes thereof, ascrewconveyer device operating to carry along in the vicinity ofthe furnaces asupply-colnmn offuel, and one or more auxiliary or branch screwfeeder devices which operate, as specified, to take the fuel from the aforesaid vscrew-conveyer device and positively discharge it thence into the tire, and the communication between which and said conveyer device may be regulated at pleasure, all substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

2. In combination with an ordinary conveyer for bringing the fuel from the source of supply to the vicinity of thefuel-feeding mechanism that is connected with the furnace and the screw-conveyer tube E, to which the fuel is supplied by the said ordinary conveyer and from which it is fed to the fire, a verticallyarranged safety chute or conduit, Et, through which the material discharged from the said ordinary conveyer falls into the receiving end of the tube E, and which acts as a fire cut-off, substantially as described.

3. The combination, in a fuel-feeder, of the screw-conveyer a, arranged and worki ug within the tube E, and one or more laterally-arranged feed-tubes communicating with said tube E and-provided wit-h screw-feeders E3, which coact tangential] y with the screw-conveyer a and take material from the moving fuel-column of the latter and discharge it onto the surface of the fire, all substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

4. In a fuel-feeding contrivance, the comb-ination of a supplying-conveyer, D, a screwconveyer arranged contiguously to the boiler and furnace and open at its tail end, one or more .branch screw-feeder devices, one or more valvular slides, G, and a suitable system of driving-gearing for imparting the proper continuous rotatory movements to the screws of both the main and auxiliary feeding devices, all substantially as hereinbefore set fort-h.

In witness vwhereof I have hereunto set my hand this 13th day of January, 1887.

GEO. H. PATULLO.

In presence of- 4 HEZEKIAH M. GILLETT, MORRIS L. COURTRIGHT. 

